The Life of a Sister
by janefan13
Summary: This one is about Rose, one of Pepper's daughters. It takes place about ten years after Life of a Chef, and fairly recently after the Queen chapter of Life of a Noble. It is an established fact that I suck at summaries.


Whoever said that being a woman was easy, they lied. If that was the same person that said that any girl was fortunate to be a lady in waiting, Rose Gardener wanted that person to be brutally mutilated. Not that she didn't like her job, to the contrary, it was great. Princess Anna was kind, and realized that despite Rose's ability to work with hair, nothing much would come of it, but at great distances, Anna actually looked good, thanks to Rose, and she rewarded her well for that. It was just, Rose wasn't sure it was what she wanted to do.

She had never known what to do with herself. She had never really noticed any of the boys, and they didn't notice her, unlike her oldest sisters, Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer. She didn't enjoy cooking unlike, like the triplets, or cleaning, like Lily and Daisy. She didn't even enjoy gardening, like her brother, or running the inn, like her twin, Petunia. She honestly had no idea what to do with herself, unlike the rest of her family.

Probably, the best part of it all was that she was near the triplets, two years her senior, and her little brother, as well as Aunt Jane and Uncle Jester and their children. Janet had displayed an early interest in becoming a knight, and Remus was following in his grandfather's footsteps to be a chamberlain. It was much better staying at the castle than at the inn, where she even got her own bed, or would, if it weren't for the gosh darned triplets. She remembered the first night she spent in the castle.

"Rosemary, what are you doing here?" she asked, seeing the bob of brown hair in her chambers.

"I'm not Rosemary, I'm Spice." Those two were identical, but strangely looked nothing like their sister, Sage, who had blonde hair like Autumn that confounded everyone.

"Then Spice, what are you doing here?"

"They want all three of us to sleep in the kitchen. Can you believe that?"

"Yes, I can. You're chefs! If you sleep anywhere else, the kitchens might burn down!"

"That's why Sage is still there, so she can start the bread and make sure nothing burns. If we want her to put something in, we'll just leave it out overnight."

Rose sighed. She was going to lose this fight. "Where is Rosemary sleeping?"

"Oh! Janet volunteered to keep her, since she gets lonely without her family sometimes."

"Janet, or Rosemary?"

"Both!"

Rose sighed again. "You may stay." It wasn't like she had a choice, anyways.

It turned out, Spice kicked in her sleep, and Rose rarely got any rest at all. That didn't help when her duties started half an hour before any of the royal family woke up, and didn't end until long after the royal family went to bed. She barely had time to even eat lunch, though she had dinner with the royal family.

Eventually, she found her self falling into a rhythm. This involved rising at dawn with her sister, briefly spending half of her morning readying herself for the day, as was expected, crossed the short hall to the Princess' room to find Anna and ready _her_ for the day. By then, they were in time for formal breakfast at nearly noon. Princess Anna would then spend the rest of the day consulting with the rest of the royal family over various issues, leaving Rose to take care of the children. Personally, she was most fond of the eldest, Adelaide, a little girl not much younger than herself, close in age to Janet. She had bright, bubbling eyes full of curiosity, and was the friend of the entire castle, especially Rose and all of her siblings. She in many ways resembled her mother, but toned down so that with a slight bit of effort, she looked wonderful. Her slightly younger brother, Cenel, was an annoying trickster whom Rose could do without, especially since he reminded her of the dull-witted Prince Cuthbert, but the youngest child, Pamela, not much more than a tottering babe, was hard to resist. The large eyes she had inherited from her mother blended well with the traits given by her grandmother. At midday, they would have a snack for the children, but Rose was never hungry yet. They would play all afternoon until supper, with the exception of the lessons provided by Remus, the apprentice chamberlain, at varying times. After supper, the children would be sent to bed, with one exception once a week when all were forced to bathe. Princess Anna would rarely return from her busy days in time to say good night to the children.

Overall, Rose was content, but challenged with her simple, but trying profession, and she wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
